Whether cursing is acceptable during a podcast or in a magazine is a negotiation between the editors and their audience. Too much and they risk losing their audience; too little and they risk being just another PC magazine in a sea of shitty PC magazines.

you are kidding right?

in addition to the tech content or opinion or whatever, its the right mix of profanity? this is actually calculated?

Quote:

Curse words are a tool like any other in a writer's bag of tricks. If Hemingway can use them, they are fair game for writers.

I agree, they can be a tool. but use a word too much and it loses its meaning. hear f*** a hundred times and I dont even hear it any more. so when that person really wants to emphasize a point and uses it.. sorry its just not heard. I mean whats he gonna do, say it louder?

I rarely swear and when I do, I mean it. it does what its intended, draw attention.

personally I would rather not hear it in the podcasts, it just seems unprofessional. surely the editors have a better vocabulary to draw on to make a point stand out. but it doesnt bother me either way really and its certainly their choice.

Whether cursing is acceptable during a podcast or in a magazine is a negotiation between the editors and their audience. Too much and they risk losing their audience; too little and they risk being just another PC magazine in a sea of shitty PC magazines.

you are kidding right?

in addition to the tech content or opinion or whatever, its the right mix of profanity? this is actually calculated?

vulgarity as a marketing tool? as a presentation style (like some comedians) I can see it but for tech stuff? I expect tech stuff to be, well, all technical. that doesnt mean all dry and boring but there are other ways to differentiate something besides adding vulgarity. that just seems the easy way out. anyone can swear, but not everyone can write (or speak) well and get a point across in a unique style that stands out.

guess Im just showing my age, growing up when people were careful with their language in public situations or when their language was connected with a product.. good thing Im not in marketing lol.

Have you ever seen any vulgarity in MPC? No. The writers do not use it in the magazine. This is a huge mountain being made from a molehill.

We've seen the debate about phrases like 'KickAss' ... that is vulgar and it is part of MPC's branding. That is the worst that they offer in the magazine. If that offends you, don't buy the product. No one can claim that this is new, though. The 'KickAss' label has been around since Big Daddy Dosland.

I've never listened to the podcast but I've seen the big red 'explicit language' tag on it on iTunes. If explicit language offends you, don't download the podcast.

Have you ever seen any vulgarity in MPC? No. The writers do not use it in the magazine. This is a huge mountain being made from a molehill.

I've never listened to the podcast but I've seen the big red 'explicit language' tag on it on iTunes. If explicit language offends you, don't download the podcast.

whoa dude. I never said the magazine used vulgar language.

I also have not listened to a podcast for a long time. if I grab one and the language is way to nasty, Ill just stop listening.

your remark about vulgar language being a marketing thing is surprising, thats all. comedians for example may use vulgar language but for the main part the ones that use it also focus on vulgar concepts. its a package deal. tech stuff, OTOH, is neutral territory.

Actually, if ya wanna go that direction, Eminem most certainly would sell as many cd's, because he's a word master. He actually has the ability to make music without relying on curse words, but he chooses to include them, where he does, in order to get his point across.

Regardless, to be back on topic, There's never really a need for the language at all, but if you're going to use it, try to use it as little as possible, and with respect. The whole explicit label on itunes has as much effect as the "Are you 17 or older" button on a porn site. Just cuz a kid could be honest, doesn't mean they will be. Also, the point was made about kids being toilet-mouthed heathens, that's very true, but the only reason that it's true, is because of immature ignoramuses that "raised" them. The whole world's a frickin' cesspool of immorality any more, has been for as long as the World's existed basically, just got so much worse over the last 100+ years, and especially since the roaring 20's. As of late, I literally want to bitch-slap hundreds of people I see, just about anywhere I go, because of how they've/they're "raising" their kids.

The biggest issue here is that some of us are offended by the language, especially when it's used either out of place or out of character/context. The whole reason I don't listen to the podcasts is simply because I don't want to hear what they have to say in them, especially since I hear it all day long anyway, from others and occasionally myself. If there's even twice as much decent info in them as there is in the magazine, then it's still half-assed and not worth it.

The magazine may as well be a pamphlet with an advertisement book attached to it, because that's about as informative and useful as it is any more, and it's been that way for years. That's why I read it while I'm looking at it in a store, and decide whether or not to buy it, which I usually don't, because maybe 10 pages are even of any interest at all, the rest is just a waste of paper (to me) and thus a waste of my money. Not to mention the fact that almost 100% of the info in every issue is at least an entire month old by the time the mag ships out. 99% of what I see in every issue is stuff I read on the web a month or 2 earlier, sometimes up to 6 months prior even!

I still enjoy reading the magazine but it would be nice if they could repeat less on the CD. The same old utilities month after month. Maybe they could work a license deal with PC Magazine and put their utilities collection on a CD since they don't actually publish a magazine anymore. Half dozen a month should last about a year with no repeats.

Have you ever seen any vulgarity in MPC? No. The writers do not use it in the magazine. This is a huge mountain being made from a molehill.

We've seen the debate about phrases like 'KickAss' ... that is vulgar and it is part of MPC's branding. That is the worst that they offer in the magazine. If that offends you, don't buy the product. No one can claim that this is new, though. The 'KickAss' label has been around since Big Daddy Dosland.

I've never listened to the podcast but I've seen the big red 'explicit language' tag on it on iTunes. If explicit language offends you, don't download the podcast.

Bro, they give out Maximum KICK ASS awards bro. That is insulting to everyone but J-Lo.

Have you ever seen any vulgarity in MPC? No. The writers do not use it in the magazine. This is a huge mountain being made from a molehill.

We've seen the debate about phrases like 'KickAss' ... that is vulgar and it is part of MPC's branding. That is the worst that they offer in the magazine. If that offends you, don't buy the product. No one can claim that this is new, though. The 'KickAss' label has been around since Big Daddy Dosland.

I've never listened to the podcast but I've seen the big red 'explicit language' tag on it on iTunes. If explicit language offends you, don't download the podcast.

Bro, they give out Maximum KICK ASS awards bro. That is insulting to everyone but J-Lo.

I agree with Jim, there's no place for vulgarity in a professional pubilcation primarily directed towards computer hardware/software, be it a print magazine, an online article, or a podcast. Some exceptions can exist, like "Kick Ass" which is short, gets the point across, & is usually used apropriately (though lately, I've questioned the validity of the "Kick Ass" label for certain products) , & works a lot better than "Knocks Your Socks Off"

I'm a bit at odds with the picture being discussed... on one hand, it's Amber's personal work space being shared with the rest world & is being presented to us uncensored... on the other hand, it's a lot like the old days of music, where bands started pushing vulgarity into the lyrics, & at first everyone just winked, turned a blind eye, &/or laughed it off, and it became sort of accepted as part of music, but then it became more & more prominent, & bands like WASP pushed the limits with songs like "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)", and then it blew up with the whole "2 Live Crew" thing & now we have explicit lyrics stickers & you have to be 18 to buy many albums now, & I've even been carded about a dozen times in the last 15 years when buying CD's At the rate things are going, in 10 years, you're going to have to show ID that shows you're 18 or over to buy Maximum PC from a store... Think I'm kidding... people said they would never have age restrictions on music either.

Of course Jim should probably have posted in the magazine feedback section, not the Dog Pound...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against vulgarity, but it's getting ridiculous how much & how unnecessarily it's being used these days. People around me know that if they hear me cuss, they better watch the f out, cause I'm really pissed off, & that's the way it should be...

50 years ago, the phrase 'god damn it' would have been censored. 'Bitch' was far too strong a word for public consumption.

Language and morals change and the swing goes back and forth. Personally, I think that Cary Grant was a much better role model for a generation than Eminem, but I'm sure that I'll see the pendulum swing back to modesty, civility and false respect within my lifetime.

Personally, I think that Cary Grant was a much better role model for a generation than Eminem, but I'm sure that I'll see the pendulum swing back to modesty, civility and false respect within my lifetime.

Definitely on the first part.... What's funny is that Eminem said it best, "Will Smith doesn't have to cuss in his rap to sell records, Well, I do, so Fuck him & Fuck you too" and what he's saying is that without the vulgarity, he can't be different enough to be noticed on his own merits, & that's pretty much how most people born since the '70's think these days... "if I don't get noticed, then I'll just cuss & everyone will notice me then".

And history shows that man as a species does not willingly self regulate, and willingly fights attempts at regulation, so no there won't be a swing back to modesty & civility... though false respect never dissapeared

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